What is the relevance of testimony of police officers who did not consider defendant to be a suspect?

California, United States of America


The following excerpt is from People v. Stansbury, 38 Cal.Rptr.2d 394, 889 P.2d 588, 9 Cal.4th 824 (Cal. 1995):

[9 Cal.4th 830] Our opinion also referred to the testimony of the police officers involved that they did not consider defendant a suspect. Unfortunately, it failed to delineate carefully the relevance of such testimony. As the high court has said, "[a]n officer's knowledge or beliefs may bear upon the custody issue if they are conveyed, by word or deed, to the individual being questioned." (Stansbury v. California, supra, 511 U.S. at p. ----, 114 S.Ct. at p. 1530.) Thus, evidence of the officer's subjective suspicions or beliefs is relevant only "if the officer's views or beliefs were somehow manifested to the individual under interrogation and would have affected how a reasonable person in that position would perceive his or her freedom to leave" or if such evidence is "relevant in testing the credibility of [the officer's] account of what happened during an interrogation...." (Ibid.) 1

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